𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟏: 𝐀𝐩𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐜 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
Feeling down due to the lack of results from the previous night’s party, I am feeding the creatures in the annex with Stephan. And I inadvertently complained to Stephan.
“I was bothered by a young lady whose name I can’t even remember at last night’s party.”
“How did it happen?”
“It seems that Ferguson-sama used my name to reject that young lady before.”
“Ferguson…”
Stephan is deep in thought.
“He’s someone I barely remember. He used my name without my permission. Isn’t it annoying? I almost got doused with wine in retaliation.”
“Please tell me the young lady’s name. I will get back at her if I have the chance.”
“Stephan, you can’t even joke about that. Besides, I couldn’t remember her name.”
“That’s too bad.”
After finishing feeding, we locked the door, checked that it was locked, and left the annex.
“Hey, Ellen.”
A tall man was standing leaning against a garden tree.
“Felix-sama! What brings you here?”
“I was just passing by. So I came.”
[So I came,] he said.
“Would you like some tea?”
“Really? Thank you.”
Felix-sama is walking around the reception room, looking at paintings and vases. His thick red hair and reddish-brown eyes are inherited from his mother, and he once said that there are many red-haired and active people in his maternal family.
“I haven’t been here in a while, but you still don’t have any bottles of poison, do you?”
“We don’t have such things. Is that what you wanted to see?”
“But your house is famous for its poison, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s famous for its antidote. Even though you know that.”
Felix-sama walked over to the chair with large strides and sat down with a graceful movement. I watched him, thinking that his movements are as refined as ever.
“Do you still keep snakes and spiders?”
“Yes. In fact, we have more types and numbers than before. Also, I heard that there are rumors that our house makes a lot of poison and kills people with it, but we don’t poison anyone.”
“I understand. By the way, do you remember the promise we made last night?”
“What was the promise?”
“I knew it. We talked about having a meal together, didn’t we?”
・・・
『”ᴀᴡᴇʙsᴛᴏʀɪᴇs.ᴄᴏᴍ” – ᴅɪsᴄᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴀ ᴄᴀᴘᴛɪᴠᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴏғ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ᴘᴀssɪᴏɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ, ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ ɪɴᴅᴜʟɢᴇ ɪɴ ᴀ ᴄᴏʟʟeᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴛʀᴀɴsʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs ᴡɪᴛʜ “ᴅᴀɪʟʏ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇs” ᴀɴᴅ ᴇxᴄʟᴜsɪᴠᴇ ᴀᴄᴄᴇss ᴛᴏ “ᴀᴅᴠᴀɴᴄᴇᴅ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs”.』
・・・
It was sudden, but I changed into my going-out dress and am now having lunch. I learned that if you are a Duke, you can get into popular restaurants without a reservation. This is the first time we have eaten out together.
We were led to a private room, where the floor, walls, furniture, and paintings were all wonderful.
The food served was delicate and elegant, and each piece of tableware and what seemed to be pure silver cutlery was like a work of art. As we ate slowly, the conversation started with Duke-sama’s favorite topic.
Felix-sama was very knowledgeable about recent investment trends and power relations among the nobility. As I listened with admiration, the conversation suddenly turned to aphrodisiacs. It seems that he knows someone who collapsed after drinking a poor-quality aphrodisiac. I hope it’s not him.
Ah. Maybe he invited me because he wanted to hear about aphrodisiacs.
“Do you ever make aphrodisiacs, Ellen?”
“I can make them, but the aphrodisiacs that people think of are products of imagination.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. The story that you fall in love with the person you see right after taking the medicine is an adult fairy tale born out of desire.”
Felix-sama seems interested.
“What are they actually like?”
“The key is smell, I suppose. The smell of the other person is imprinted in the brain as a desirable one. Strictly speaking, each person has a different body odor. People often identify individuals by smell without realizing it. Even after the effect of the medicine wears off, the memory of the imprinted smell and the thought that it was desirable does not disappear. Smell is a primitive thing.”
I laughed at that point because I could guess what Felix-sama would ask next.
“Ellen, have you ever used an aphrodisiac?”
“I’ve taken it, many times.”
When I answered with a wry smile, as I had expected, Felix-sama looked worried.
“Is it harmful to your body? Did you feel the effect?”
“At first, it was a very diluted amount, so it didn’t do anything. I gradually increased the concentration and drank the aphrodisiac many times to get my brain and body used to it, so a normal amount doesn’t affect me anymore. Also, neither Okaa-sama nor I make anything that would harm the body.”
“As expected. I’d like to try it once.”
“One dose costs two hundred gold coins.”
“What? Is it that expensive? You’re kidding, right?”
“If we don’t do that, there will be a lot of incidents. There seem to be cheap, inferior products, but please avoid them. Inferior products can cause death in some people, and in some cases, lifelong aftereffects.”
“Why does your family make such a drug?”
I signaled to the shopkeeper to refill the cooled tea. I drank the hot tea with steam rising from it and explained with the feeling of a teacher instructing a student.
“Most of the nobility are involved in political marriages, right? There are stories of marriages with people they have never seen, and even with people who are as old as their parents or grandparents. There are many cases where they have to marry for the sake of their family and their people, even if they don’t want to. It’s for those brides and grooms. At least, our family only provides the drug in such cases.”
“Huh? The person who gets the aphrodisiac drinks it themselves?”
“Yes. If you can’t avoid marriage, at least to live a good life with your partner. You drink it yourself so that you can live thinking ‘this person is desirable’. After all, giving an aphrodisiac to someone without their knowledge is a serious crime.”
“But, it’s kind of scary. Manipulating human romantic feelings. And, is it okay to tell me all this? Isn’t it a secret passed down through generations?”
Hmm. He’s surprisingly serious, or rather, innocent.
“It’s okay because it’s not something you can imitate just by hearing it. Besides, any decent pharmacist knows the basic way to make it. It’s difficult to remove the side effects and produce the effect.”
I wonder if it was bad to lie about the two hundred gold coins. But I felt like he would order an aphrodisiac out of curiosity if I didn’t say that. He’s the kind of person who acts on his ideas from childhood.
Felix-sama kept questioning me about the medicine afterwards, but when I said, “I have some business to attend to,” he kindly escorted me home.
“Can I visit your house again?”
“There may be times when I can’t accommodate you if you come suddenly.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll come suddenly when I want to see you.”
“Is that so?”
“Is it not good?”
“It doesn’t bother me.”
“I had a lot of fun today. See you later.”
Felix-sama had the same smile as when he was a child. If neither of us were heirs, we might have developed romantic feelings, but the reality is that we are just good childhood friends.
But for me, who has not been very sociable, the existence of a friend like him, whom I know well, is a blessing.
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